Intermission

It is time to take a break, re-fuel and go play in the desert.  In a week or two I will have new and exciting stories about enameling, soft stone carving and all things jewelry.

Obsessed

A pair of earrings.  I'm obsessed with the detail that the artist designed for the back of the earrings.  I wish I knew who the artist was, the signature appears to be Eiel but my searches come up with zero.  Below is the front of the earring.

Jen Lobo

Chroma Theives my favorite piece by Jen Lobo an artist from Pasadena, California.  I find her perspective refreshing and subject matter unique.

Chasing and Repousse

Time to get back to making a few of my own tools.  While looking for ideas for shapes to make I came across several people who make beautiful chasing and repousse tools.  Above Knitsteel on Flickr.

 Anvil Fire

2MoonTools on Etsy

The Mettle Works

Victoria Lansford

 

Nechamkin Silver Studios

Chandeliers

From Wallpaper* magazine's April 2010 issue (yes a year ago).  Chandelierious includes platinum, gold and diamonds jewelry from Chanel, Moussaieff, Georg Jensen, Tiffany & Co. and others.  Bracelets, rings, pendants and necklaces are displayed together to make wonderous chandeliers. 

My favorites are the Van Cleef & Arpels piece with their iconic clovers (click to next page - second image) and the the net-like 'Alphabet' pendant chains from Jacqueline Rabun (image directly below).

 

 

Rock Crystal

Just sitting here wondering how my love for all things gem and mineral relates to my love for cooking.  Rock crystal candy of course!  I remember going into candy stores as a child and being obsessed with the formations of rock candy and the pretty colors.  As a grown up I would much prefer rock candy on a stick for sweetening my ice tea and skip the childhood memory of a mouthful of sugary sweet crunch.

After doing a Google search for recipes I came across Christian Grantham's Flickr page chronicling the process of failures and success and a winning recipe.  It seems the secret is starting the sticks with a bit of eggwhite brushed on them and rolled in sugar before adding to the jar of sugar and water mixture.  With some flavored extracts added to the mixture I think a whole grown up version could be in my future. 

Zzyzx

 

 Soda Springs California, aka Zzyzx, here I come.  I am packing up my tools, sorting through my gemmies and laying out projects to get ready for my trip to the Desert Studies Center with CFMS (California Federation of Mineralogical Societies).  I will be taking workshops in enameling, soft stone carving and lapidary and working on as many jewelry projects as possible.  Heaven!

Metallurgy and Alchemy

The other day at work I came across the word "metallurgy" and I started to day dream about alchemy and what old lithograph images might be found on the subject.  BibliOdyssey has a beautiful collection of images on their blog under Alchemy Laboratories.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Donald Sultan

Butterflies

38" x 38" Screenprint

Pot of Gold

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope everyone finds their pot of gold.

Lotus Pendant, copper and chrysoprase, approximately 1-1/2" diam.

Available by custom order - email me

Street Art

This past weekend I had a fleeting thought of searching out Banksy's recent street art in the Los Angeles area.  He is right, this tank about fifteen minutes from my home looks a bit like an elephant.  Besides he would know since he painted a pachyderm in September 2006.

Current Read

Enameling on Metal by Oppi Untracht, 1971 (first published in 1957).  I love reading vintage jewelry and craft books and even more exciting to me are the period images which are great for inspiration.  Of course I make sure to read current books for advanced techniques and safety measures.  Oppi includes asbestos gloves and an asbestos block in the quipment list which have of course not been available in artist stores for years.

Stumped

A collection of jeweler's stumps used for supporting stakes, carved with concave shapes for forming metal and doubling as work benches.

Mineral Illustrations

Velvet malachite from Llandidno, Denbighshire England.  Hand colored copper plate engraving from 1803 depicting a 3.1 inch specimen presumably from the collection of James Sowerby.  Published in Volume 1 of British Mineralogy.  Image and details from The Mineralogical Record.

Velvet Azurite (left) and Malachite (right) from Cornwall.  Hand colored copper plate engraving from 1804 depicting 2.4 inch specimen from the collection of Philip Rashleight and 1.8 inch specimen from the collection of Richard Phillips, respectively.  Published in Volume 1 of British Mineralogy.  Image and details from The Mineralogical Record.

On My Must See List

Those fabulous Rodarte girls Kate and Laura Mulleavy have their first solo exhibit on the West Coast titled States of Matter at MOCA's Pacific Design Center annex just minutes from my home.  The work is installed as a series of interrelated conceptual vignettes, both static and in motion, the installation portrays garments as charged sculptural objects. 

Rodarte made a lot of noise in recent years with their high fashion avant garde designs which use unique materials and fabrication methods.  Also on display will be their original ballet costume designs for the film Black Swan.  The exhibit is on view through June 5th.

Shearling Fur Bracelet

Raspberry pink shearling fur and brass bracelet.  A thin sheet of brass is micro formed with special wood block forms and custom hammers into a curved tube.  This bracelet can be found listed for sale in Gossamer Bijou's Etsy shop.  Other versions can be made to order in choice of metal and various colors of fur or faux fur - email me.

Jewelry Workshops

Studio DeLucca in Long Beach, California has a great line up of classes for March and April.  I have taken several workshops at the studio and enjoyed the diversity of classes, informative and helpful teachers and cheerful environment.  The calendar includes beginner and intermediate classes for rings, earrings, necklaces, soldering and metal etching. 

You can also find Studio DeLucca on Facebook.

Fisher Norris Eagle

She finally arrived!  After being stuck in limbo for two weeks at the local post office my 'new' vintage anvil was delivered yesterday on the front seat of Ruby the mail carrier's truck.  Excitement commenced with a happy dance and I met her at the truck for the hand over.  After asking Ruby for the last two weeks if she had a large package for me she knew when she received her distribution exactly where the heavy box was to be delivered.

Fisher Norris was the first large scale manufacturer of anvils in the United States.  Fisher Norris Eagles were manufactured from 1843 to 1979.  Their unique patent manufacturing process involved welding a tool steel plate onto a cast iron body in the mold when the anvil was cast.  This process also produces a much quieter anvil than other wrought iron or steel anvils which ring like a bell.

She is currently enrobed in black glossy paint and a previous owner ground a concave slot and two small dimples in her horn which I am sure will come to good use. She has two pritchel holes and no hardy holes (square).  The pritchel holes are used for punching holes through metal or holding tools that have a round shank.  Under her horn she is marked 4 for 40 pounds and stamped FISHER and on her side is the distinct Eagle mark can be seen in the last photo.  She needs a name and will soon get a make-over with a light grind and polish on top to get her ready for making jewelry. 

Through a Colored Lense

Cuba Gallery, a photographer from Australia named Andrew is one of my new favorite photographers.  Perhaps it is the way he tints his photographs with green and teal tones or maybe because just a quick peruse through his Flickr page CubaGallery and I want to drop everything and hop on a plane to another country.

He explains and shows his before and after process for the photos on his blog under Lightroom Tutorials.

Before picture below.